Page 83 of Fated to Her

“Find my mate! She’s in the forest somewhere. I want everyone out looking for her,” Eli orders before using the bond and letting it pull him toward her.

She is deep in the forest, and I can feel how cold she is, meaning he’s running with her. Porter and Maverick rush into the treeline, and I hear everyone shifting, also hunting for her. The trees blur past me as I weave in and out of them, letting the bond guide me.

I pick up her scent, but it’s faint as we follow the trail toward her. We are a good way into the forest when I suddenly hear her screaming for us before pain washes over her. Eli growls, her pain pushing us harder as we desperately search for her. The pack members, also hearing it, sprint in her location, circling around us and closing in the direction of where we are being pulled to.

We know she has to be close to the forest edge; it’s now become a race against time before he steps out of the forest with her. She’s still a good half an hour away from us, and that alone scares me because they can’t be far from escaping, and God knows what will become of her if he clears this forest. If we catch them before he leaves, we have a chance of ending this once and for all.

We push ourselves harder, and I’m running faster than I ever have out of pure fear, growing closer as I continue through the blurred-out forest, indicating they have slowed, her pain like a beacon urging us forward. Her fear is so strong, I can taste it in the back of my throat when we suddenly get a whiff of something that makes my blood run cold as the breeze shifts: the scent of her blood. And by how strong it is, there is a lot of it as the breeze carries her scent to us.

Pain washes over me, making me double over and gasp. Eli is also forced to grip a tree. His eyes snap to mine behind him.

“The baby,” he chokes out.

This isn’t good. She can’t go into labor now while we aren’t with her; the baby will literally tear itself out of her, and she hasn’t got my blood in her system. There is no guarantee she will survive the transformation with Eli’s blood in her system. Rarely would any human survive that transition, and my blood would be more dominant over his, making her a vampire. But without it, not only will she die during birth, but if by some miracle she comes back, the shift may kill her for good.

I knew something was up with her earlier, and I went against my instincts. She hasn’t hidden anything from us in ages, and she’s never blocked me out until tonight. I just assumed she was having flashbacks. She usually tries to keep those from me, but I know what he did to her, what she endured at his hands. I now feel stupid for not prying; this mistake may just cost her her life.

Chapter 21

• Adeline •

Every time I stop, he hurts Taylor. Even though she’s told me to run repeatedly, I can’t leave her in his clutches. I know he won’t hesitate to kill her.

“Run, Ada! Save yourself,” she tells me before I hear flesh on flesh as Sam hits her, her body hitting my feet as she lands on the ground. I try to pull her up, but she’s suddenly gone.

“Shut up!” Sam growls at her.

She groans.

“Let her go!” I cry out, trying to reach for her, yet I can’t see where she is.

He growls, pushing me forward. “Keep walking.”

Sam, becoming annoyed with how slow I’m moving, tosses me over his shoulder, his shoulder digging painfully into my abdomen as he grabs Taylor, too, doing the same with her, before he resumes running. Agony is the only way to describe the pain, like my insides are being torn apart.

I choke on air, finding it difficult to breathe, when I feel grass whipping my feet and know we are out of the forest. I also know by the light coming from the car parked up ahead next to Eli’s. Sam places me on my feet and opens the trunk. He tosses my sister in it, about to lock her up, and I attack him. He wraps his arms around me, pulling me away from the back of the car. He grips my hair, his fangs protruding.

“Enough, or I’ll kill her in front of you,” he snaps. I go limp. He goes to shut the trunk, and Taylor sits up, staring at me.

“Run, Ada!” she screams.

I listen, taking off through the grass but not getting very far before his arms lock around my waist, ripping me against him again.

“I wouldn’t suggest trying that again. You are really testing my patience, and I am growing rather angry with you,” he says, squeezing my stomach in his vise-like grip, making me cry out.

Blood runs down my legs and I throw my head back. He grunts, but he doesn’t let go, instead dragging me toward the car. I see left the trunk open, and I pray Taylor got out.

As we move closer to the car, I notice she’s gone, and so does Sam as he shoves me toward the back door, his head whipping from side to side looking for her, a menacing growl tearing out of him. I struggle, kicking the door shut when he opens it, and thrashing. My sister’s war cry shatters the night right before Sam drops me, falling to the ground himself.

I land on top of him, only just scrambling off him as she brings a tire iron down on his head. Blood sprays everywhere, and I crawl to my hands and knees, using the car to haul myself up. I get to my feet, and she keeps hitting him, his face caving in, and he gurgles, choking on his blood. The sight is gruesome, but I know it isn’t enough to kill him before she drops the tire iron and grabs my hand. She runs, pulling me with her as we race for our lives. We head for the coverage of the trees, fueled by pure adrenaline.

The long grass is whipping my body where my clothes are torn, the wind pushing against us. I glance over my shoulder to see him roll onto his hands and knees, flicking blood from his eyes with his hand, his face all bloody as he glares at us. I turn back, sprinting harder while clutching my stomach. Then Taylor stops, causing me to run past her, a strangled noise leaving her lips.

I stop, nearly stumbling from our hands breaking apart, and I turn to see why she’s stopped. She has a look of shock on her face before it twists in pain. Her mouth opens and closes as she gasps, her hands clutching at her stomach. Blood pours out of her mouth and down her chin, and she gurgles as she chokes on it.

“Run,” she coughs out, spluttering on her blood as my eyes land on the tire iron protruding through her stomach where her hands clutch it. “Run,” she gasps again before falling to her knees.

I scream.